Two Europeans Get US Prison in $4M Car-Selling Scam

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A Romanian man was sentenced to eight years and one month in federal prison and a Russian woman got almost six years for scamming victims out of more than $4.4 million by selling non-existent cars over the Internet.

Authorities say 38-year-old Corneliu Weikum and 24-year-old Yulia Mishina-Heffron were sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro after pleading guilty in September to cash smuggling and wire and bank fraud charges.

Their lawyers say Weikum and Mishina-Heffron apologized before sentencing.

The two were convicted of taking part in a Romania-based scheme that advertised cars for sale on Internet from May 2007 to November 2010.

The judge also ordered Weikum and Mishina-Heffron to repay $4.4 million and to surrender more than $1.4 million in cash seized during the investigation.

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